From Our Very Beginning To Our Very End
by Hinata Uzumaki-sama
Summary: Uzumaki Kushina was always full of energy and never backed down from a challenge. Now, as she makes her way through the Chuunin exams and beyond, she will have to deal with happiness, loss, and a annoying blond konoha shinobi. MinatoXKushina
1. Look Over Here

Title: From Our Very Beginning To Our Very End

Author: Hinata Uzumaki-sama (OR Hinatagirl410 on livejournal/youtube)

Pairing: MinatoXKushina

Fandom: Naruto

Theme: #1 Look Over Here

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, no offence but If I owned Naruto why would I be writing here?

So I've read a few stories from writers working with the 30 kisses and I've decided to try it too as inspiration to get me out of my slump I've had. Though sadly, my usual NaruHina was already taken by an amazing writer who you should all go check out. Though this is going to take a little bit more focus than my usual ones, I admit right now that for all my ongoing chapter stories, I have at the least one chapter for each story written in my notebook, just I was away for two weeks and am busy catching up on anime, manga, and most importantly, work. So I need some time but don't worry. I don't abandon my stories. So I'm trying out writing for a couple that I love with all my heart but have never fully written for. So please review and tell me what you think!

* * *

"How long till we get there, Dai-sensei? It's taking forever!" A red headed kunoichi said as she walked down the dirt road.

"It's not like Konoha is down the street you know. We're making good time so it won't be long now." Her sensei said. She moaned and her teammates joined her silently, but they were never the ones to voice their complaints. They always left it up to their only kunoichi member to do for them. Then again, she would voice anything that came to her mind, not just complaints. She was always loud and ready to tackle any problem in front of her head on. These were only a few of the qualities that made Uzumaki Kushina stand out.

Though she knew she didn't need anymore ways to stand out among the people of her village. First off she was a kunoichi, which not many girls tried out for and was mainly left up to boys. But when had she ever cared about the fact she was girl and they were all boys? She watched as other girls would fuss over looking perfect while she would just slip on her black pants, blue t-shirt and orange vest and run out the door. She would watch as the other girls brushed and then put up and redo their hair many times until they found it perfect. Kushina would brush her's slightly sure, but that was about all she could do with her short mess of red hair. Her tomboy manor left most people who met her and knew her position in the village confused. And yet, at the same time it made slight sense.

Kushina was the youngest daughter of the head of the Uzumaki clan, founders of the village she was from. As the a daughter of such an important family, she did know how to act like a proper girl with proper manors and _could _be ladylike if she needed to… but then again, being from the family she was from and being surrounded by three older brothers and two younger ones meant be tough or be attacked by the idiots she's always thought of them as. _"Boys are just stupid, then again, it's not like all girls are much better." _She would tell herself as she thought of not only her brothers but her two older sisters as well. They were twins and hadn't taken part of the tradition of becoming shinobi like the majority of her family. They were obsessed with clothes, make-up and flirting. Whenever Kushina saw them fussing over some new guy she promised herself she'd never be like that and instead would stick to her life as a shinobi just like her ancestors.

Her ancestors had passed down the Uzumaki fighting style of mixing their weapons that they would choose and begin to master at age five, and mixing their nature chakra to create devastating attacks, each would change depending on which element the persons chakra was strongest with. She had chosen a katana as her weapon, which at first surprised her family since it was usually only the head of the family and his successor who would use katanas but her father trained her anyway. Though for now she only knew about properly wielding the blade and was very strong with making her attacks quick but efficient. _"Father said if I pass he'll start training me to use nature chakra! I'll be as strong- no wait, I'll be stronger than my brothers and not only master my blade but all the water jutsu I can!"_ She thought. She wanted more than anything to be the pride example of the Uzumaki clan, being a blade master and using her family's techniques to use nature chakra, specifically water, with her blade. She beamed at the idea. _"I'll be the best! But first…"_

"So are we there NOW?" She asked glared slightly and started kicking a rock in the road. Her sensei suddenly stopped and looked out. They all suddenly realized they had left the forest behind them and looked at the scene before them.

"Yep, we're here…" he said as Kushina's two teammates, Tetsuo and Shigeru quickly caught up with them. Konoha was a vast city, the biggest one Kushina had ever seen. It made her village look so small. She smiled at the thought of all the shinobi she'd be able to challenge in this village. After all, it's why her squad was here. They were all going to take the Chuunin exams and bring glory to their own village. She started laughing a little as she ran ahead of everyone else and towards the village. She was just about to go through the gates when someone grabbed her from behind. She turned around to find Dai-sensei glaring slightly at her, and her teammates running up to them too.

"Um… oops, sorry sensei." She said. Dai-sensei was tan and had dark brown hair that he kept as orderly as he could as it spiked up a bit in the front. He was normally kind except when it came to making sure his students got the rules.

"I told you we were going to stay together Kushina." He said in a stern voice. She nodded and he slowly let go of her.

"Alright, we're actually here a day earlier than we planned, I will go and sign us in. You three find us a place to stay tonight. And Kushina…"

"Yes sensei?"

"Make any trouble for anyone from this village and I will be talking to your father about how we'll have to apologize and try and be friendly again with Konoha. And he will not be happy about that idea." Dai-sensei said before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Tetsuo started laughing a little before Kushina shot him a death glare and silenced him.

The three silently made their way through the village. The watched in amazement as they saw all of the shinobi covering the village. It didn't take very long to find a hotel to stay in and after only a few short minutes of silence the peace was broken by Kushina jumping up and putting her shoes back on.

"Now what are you doing?" Shigeru asked. He liked silence and it was the main reason if there was ever fighting between teammates, it was usually between Kushina and Shigeru.

"You honestly expect me to just sit around here take a nap like you? No way! Don't you get it, we're here a day early, we should be training, getting info on the other teams!" She yelled as she bounced up and down with excitement. Tetsuo smiled and looked a little curious but still turned to Shigeru for his opinion.

"We don't know this village, we can't hide and spy as easily as we did back home. We know what home is like and Konoha has more shinobi if we get caught spying on their shinobi we could get in serious trouble." Shigeru explained. Tetsuo looked like he was thinking it over but Kushina was already opening the door.

"Tell sensei I just went out to find something to eat ok? Later!" She yelled as she slammed the door.

"Dai-sensei is going to be really mad if she does anything bad. M-Maybe we should go with her to make sure she's ok." Tetsuo said.

"You go if you're so worried. I don't care anymore." Shigeru said as he turned away and went to sleep. Tetsuo sighed and shook his head._ "He's never going to admit that he likes her is he? Then again she's so dense for not realizing it."_ Tetsuo thought as he fell asleep on his own bed too.

* * *

"Those idiots! Boys are just so stupid! Our chance to check out our competition and they're just gonna sleep!" Kushina said to herself as she jumped from building to building. She looked down and saw a team of shinobi who looked around her age. She hopped down and hid in a tree to listen in better about what they were talking about.

She looked down to see one boy with long dark hair. He had weird eyes, they didn't have pupils in them. He wore simple dark colored training clothes and his face seemed emotionless.

There was a girl with long pink hair. That's what stopped Kushina for a moment. Pink hair? On a kunoichi! What was the world coming to? She had light pink top on too with a navy blue skirt. The main reason she noticed this group in the first place was because she had hear the girl's voice. It was high and annoying in Kushina's opinion. This pink haired girl had her arms wrapped around the last member of her team who looked slightly uncomfortable with the situation.

This boy was just a curious as the girl in Kushina's mind. Though it was pretty hypocritical of her, she thought this boy shouldn't be a shinobi since he stood out so much. He had the brightest blondest hair she had ever seen. And his eyes were bright blue too. It was odd because unlike the girl, besides his hair he didn't stick out that much physically, but she just felt the oddest and yet strongest connection to the boy. Leaving Kushina very confused.

She shifted slightly to jump away, too confused by this new feeling she had to the boy. But her slight movement didn't go unnoticed. The boy with the pupil-less eyes noticed her. She watched as veins started popping out around his eyes and then he turned to look right at her. She froze. She looked right into the boy's eyes and felt his gaze. No, that wasn't right. She felt him looking at her, but it was more like looking through her. She just stayed still until he threw a kunai at her and she jumped down in front of them to dodge it. The pink haired girl screamed in surprise and both boys got in fighting stances.

"What do you want? Why were you watching us?" The pupil-less boy said. Kushina just smiled a little.

"That's a pretty cool trick, noticing me like that. Don't mind me, just checking out the genin this village has. I want to make sure I'll have a good time in this competition," She told them. The pink haired girl took a step forward, trying to look brave but failing.

"S-So, you're here for the Chuunin exams?" She asked.

"Well of course. Why else would you let so many foreign shinobi hang around your village?" Kushina said which made the pink haired girl look away, slightly embarrassed. The blond haired boy hadn't said a word, but Kushina felt his eyes stare at her and his gaze seemed to have an even greater power than the pupil-less eyed boy. The pupil-less eyed boy moved closer too. Still in a fighting stance. It was odd, Kushina had never seen a stance quiet like it before. She put her hand on her katana ready to draw it if she needed to.

"Even as a guest taking the chuunin exams, you still could have a hidden mission, spying on our shinobi does make you looks extremely suspicious." He said. The pink haired girl and the blond haired boy just watched the scene. Though the pink haired girl moved back to incase it tuned to a fight. The tension was extremely thick between Kushina and the pupil-less eyed boy. And it was only broken when the blond haired boy walked up to Kushina and asked a simple question, yet it extremely insulted her.

"So wait, you're really a kunoichi?" he asked, plain and simple. But that moment, Kushina lost all focus she had on the pupil-less eyed boy and turned on the blond haired boy.

"What's that supposed to mean?! Of course I am! I the strongest kunoichi of my village!" She yelled at him. How dare this konoha jerk insult her!

"Well I mean, look at you! You're dressed in bright orange! What kind of shinobi would do that? And you're hair sticks out even more than Akane's!" he said as he pointed over to the pink haired girl who was fidgeting slightly. "In short, you're whole body is basically yelling 'look over here!' to every enemy shinobi in the area." He pointed out and smirked a little. Kushina felt the anger building up in her and her face for some reason started heating up to. She wasn't exactly sure why but she'd figure it out later.

"Well look who's talking Mr. Bright Blond Hair! You stick out just as much as you're teammate! Except for this kid," Kushina yelled as she pointed at the pupil-less eyed boy. "You're whole squad is yelling 'look over here!'" She yelled. The blond haired boy looked annoyed finally and that alone was a victory in Kushina's eyes.

"Hey! Don't you dare make fun of Minato-kun! Namikaze Minato is top genin in our year! I know he's going to be greater than any Whirlpool ninja!" the pink haired girl yelled. Kushina suddenly felt annoyed again.

"Namikaze Minato huh? Sounds lame. Doubt he'll even pass the exam." She said and watched as the blonds face turned red. Suddenly, he pulled a kunai out and started running towards her. She didn't see the need for her katana so she pulled out a kunai as well and charged at him. She was going to end this quickly, She was about to reach him, but the other two had gotten closer, she tried to move but slipped slightly, making her face, and her lips, not even an inch away. She felt the very tips of her eye lashes touch his cheek as she turned redder. Kushina's heart stopped as she realized what just happened and remembered her sisters talking about the exact expression for what happened. _"__A-A butterfly kiss!" _Right before she made full contact she felt someone pull her back at the same moment, a white haired man with red lines running down his face pulled the blond back. The blond quickly turned around and dropped the kunai the second he made eye contact with the man, Kushina however, didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

"A-Ano… H-Hi Dai-sensei…" She said trying to ignore that fact she knew he was close to killing her for almost being in a fight.

"We'll talk later." He whispered to her as he walked up to the white haired man.

"I'm sorry my pupil caused your squad trouble. She's strong but still has to learn to not charge into fights." Dai-sensei said.

"No, it was my pupils fault, he triggered her anger while trying to show off in front of his teammates. Besides, it's there fault as well for not stopping their teammate for going into a fight. He drew his kunai first." The white haired man said.

"Now, Hiashi, Akane, apologize to these Whirlpool ninja for not stopping Minato." The white haired man said. The pink haired girl and the pupil-less eyed boy came up and said soft apologizes. Then the white haired man pushed the blond forward.

"Minato, you started the fight, apologize to this kunoichi, and her sensei." He said. The blond boy, Minato, walked forward and bowed slightly while apologizing. Kushina smirked until Dai-sensei pushed her forward.

"You must apologize to all of them Kushina. You should have stayed back with your teammates." Dai-sensei told her. She sighed and bowed as she said a quiet apology. The two sensei's nodded to each other before leading their pupils away.

* * *

Kushina stayed silent the entire time, not exactly sure what she should say. They stayed silent until they got back to the hotel room. Both Tetsuo and Shigeru jumped up when they saw their sensei and teammate enter but stayed quiet, they could tell Kushina did something wrong.

"D-Dai-sensei?" Kushina started

"You are to stay in this room until the chuunin exams start in two days. You are only allowed to leave when we go out to eat and do light training." Her sensei told her. She nodded and went and sat down on her bed look annoyed.

"By the way Kushina…" Dai-sensei said as he began to leave the room again.

"I came too late to hear what you or the boy said, but I'm curious, what _did_ he say to you? You've been blushing ever since he started looking at you." Dai-sensei said and laughed a little as Kushina ran to a mirror and saw that her sensei was right. She was blushing very badly.

"_Damn you Namikaze Minato! You are so dead! From this point on, I hate you!"_ She thought as she tried to ignore her teammates laughter.

* * *

**Ok, was too excited and published it with a lot of spelling problems but all fixed now! tell me what you think! I know I'm bad, but reviews do make me happy and make me write faster!**


	2. News Letter

Title: From Our Very Beginning To Our Very End

Author: Hinata Uzumaki-sama (OR Hinatagirl410 on livejournal/youtube)

Pairing: MinatoXKushina

Fandom: Naruto

Theme: #2 News; Letter

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Maybe someday I will enslave the world and make everyone bow to me and thus control how Naruto ends, but until then, we must live with the fact I don't own it.

**Thanks guys for reviewing! It makes me happy even if it's only four reviews. I forgot just how great it feels to get reviews and how much it makes me want to write! When I'm not at work these days I'm reading fan fiction or writing. And even when I'm at work I am standing there thinking, "Maybe this should happen so this can happen! I just got yet another idea for another one shot thanks to the music playing around me or something stupid someone just said. Why am I not at my laptop typing these things?" So yeah, things should be moving a little faster at least I hope they can. So thanks again! For now, here's the next chapter!**

* * *

When she became a genin, and was put in her squad, Kushina had no problem with her teammates or her sensei. But now, as she stood in between her sensei and Shigeru, she had to do all she could to not lash out at them.

_"Focus, I just need to focus. This is my big day to prove myself! I'm going to show the world that the Whirlpool village is the best!" _She told herself as she tried not to think back on the last two days.

First off, being confined to the hotel room was murder! She couldn't do anything! She practiced chakra control a lot because it was the only thing she could do in such a small space. When she did go out she felt her sensei watching her every move. Her fingers couldn't even twitch without him watching. It slowly started to drive her mad. Her teammates weren't helpful either. Well, actually, Tetsuo tried his best to comfort her and keep her amused, but Shigeru was going to be dead the second she was sure Dai-sensei wasn't watching! If she made even the slightest complaint he would yell at her to shut up. It ticked her off and when Dai-sensei took them out for training she went all out in sparring matches against him.

The other thing that had bother her were actually two different events but they all had to do with the same person, Namikaze Minato. First off, he seemed to take up much of her thoughts these days. Though she was sure it was because she was still mad and was plotting revenge against the blond shinobi it still annoyed her that she couldn't get him out of her head. The first event was later the same day she had met him. There was a small little area of Konoha that was filled with restaurants and shops. Dai-sensei gave them permission to find a restaurant and could have dinner where ever they chose. Kushina ran around and tried to find a place to eat, while keeping in mind she didn't want to spend a lot of money. She eventually found a small ramen shop called Ichiraku. She thought it looked ok and was about to move the curtain and walk in when someone at the same moment walked out and walked right into her. Everything happened too fast. She saw a sudden mass of blond hair and bright blue eyes, and then felt what she thought was someone's cheek hit her lips. She fell and only recognized the blond after she had turn bright red and ran away.

_"Damnit! That stupid boy just keeps getting to close to me! If I see him again I'm going to kick his ass!"_ She told herself while trying to calm down and stop blushing. She hid until he and his squad walked away, and then made her way into the ramen shop.

The next moment was after her training. She was resting by a tree and waiting for her teammates. They decided that they were going to run using their chakra to make them go even faster, the one with the best chakra control and thus got back to the meeting point where they had left they're bags would be the winner. She had made it and grabbed her bag to use it as a pillow as she waited for her team when a white envelope fell out of it. She picked it up and looked around before curiosity got the better of her and she opened the letter. She read it and immediately turned bright red. She noticed her teammates approaching and stuffed it back in her bag. Tetsuo noticed her face was red but she just told him it was because she pushed herself. She had been amazingly quiet for the rest of the day and until now, the first day of the chuunin exams. Now she tried her hardest to push all thoughts of him away from her mind and focus. They got to the front of Konoha's academy and Dai-sensei let them go forward.

"Good luck to you all. Just remember to work as a team. These will be dangerous tasks but I know you can do it." He told them as he disappeared in a puff of smoke. The three Whirlpool shinobi smiled and silently entered the building. They passed a few other teams. Some looked like they were terrified for the upcoming matches. Others looked like they could be a problem. They continued to silently until they saw a small group of people huddled by the door to the exam room. Shigeru pulled Tetsuo and Kushina back.

"Let's just be quiet and figure out what's going on. It's best if we don't show off." He said and amazingly, both Tetsuo and Kushina nodded. They got a little closer and saw that it was a team of Konoha shinobi, all boys, one with long blond hair, another one who was kinda fat with red hair, and the last one had dark brown, almost black hair pulled back into a pony tail with a scar running down his face. He was standing back a little and looked like he was about to fall asleep, ignoring what his teammates were doing. The other two were in a fight with another group of Konoha Shinobi. Two boys and a girl. One of the boys had his face completely covered and his eyes hidden behind glasses. He wore a huge grey jacket with brown pants. A kunoichi with wild brown hair and two red fang marks and a small grey wolf pup on her head. She was wearing a brown jacket and tan pants. Last was a boy with short black hair. He didn't look like anything special to Kushina. He was dressed in a grey shirt with a collar that stood up and he had tan pants as well. She also noticed that there was some odd symbol on his back. It looked like a fan. The top was red and the bottom was white.

"Come on! Just let us through! Why are you being like this?" The blond yelled at the boy with the fan on his back.

"Only the toughest of the tough will be able to survive this test. You who come from weaker clans shouldn't be here. How about you think of it as me saving the weaker shinobi so they can continue to do the easy D-rank missions. While the people who are meant to be the heros of the village go and take their proper place." He said. Though he looked confident and it made Kushina want to beat the hell out of him, his teammates looked uneasy but unwilling to abandon their teammate.

"Shut up Fugaku. Let them them and me in!" A voice said from behind them all. Kushina turned just in time to see Minato and his squad walk past them and up to the boy with the fan on his back.

"It's someone even worse than these losers from lesser clans. Your family may be powerful but it's not a real clan. You don't have any real power like my sharingan!" Fugaku said to Minato.

"He may not but I do Fugaku!" The pupil-less eyed boy, Hiashi, Kushina remembered stepped up and made the veins pop out beside his eyes again.

"You're embarrassing your clan and our village. The members of outside villages won't respect you at all if you act like that. Now stop acting like a jerk and move." Hiashi said. The boy Fugaku glared but turned away. His two teammates followed close behind him. While the other teams were thanking the squad it suddenly hit Kushina about everything that had happened the past few days with her and the blond shinobi. She quietly waited until the other squads had left and Minato's team was about to go through the door as well.

"Hey wait a minute!" She yelled, ignoring her teammates calls to come back and she walked right up and punched Minato right in the jaw. He stumbled back a few steps and the pink haired girl, Akane, ran up to him and tried to see if he was ok. He pushed her off and went right up to Kushina.

"What the heck was that for!"

"You mean you don't remember what this said?" She asked as she held up the letter he left in her bag the day they were out training. He took it and smiled.

"Oh yeah! What'd you think?" Minato asked with a huge smirk on his face.

"I think you're the biggest jerk on the face of the planet!" She said while blushing even more.

"So what's it say? We were wonder what made her so quiet. Thanks for making her shut up. It must be pretty good if you made her stay quiet." Shigeru said as he stepped up and took the letter from Mianto's hand and opened it. He started laughing and handed to a confused Tetsuo who read the letter aloud.

_Dear stupid Whirlpool kunoichi,_

_Didn't mean to spy, you guys took my favorite training spot so I decided to hang and watch for a while. Man you really go crazy with your taijutsu. But you're really sloppy at it! Work on it so your punches don't suck as much as your kisses do! I did realize that it was you who ran into me at the ramen shop! Jeez if you want a date just as and I'll think about if you're worthy enough. _

_~Minato, the future hokage and champion of the chuunin exams_

Tetsuo looked over to his on teammate holding onto the wall for support as he still tries to stop laughing. While his other teammate is bright red and fidgeting slightly.

"So you kissed him?" Tetsuo asked.

"H-He ran into me! I-It wasn't even a real kiss! Just drop it right now!" Kushina ordered but that didn't stop Shigeru from laughing even harder. Minato was smirking and trying not to laugh. His teammate Hiashi sighed and shook his head while Akane glared at Kushina and tried to move closer to Minato.

"If you're done, all of us should probably go inside. It's almost time for the chuunin exams to begin." Hiashi said as he started to walk inside. Minato started laughing and him, Akane and Shigeru went in at the same time. Kushina followed with Tetsuo trying his best to calm down his teammate.

They all froze a little bit as they saw all of the other shinobi from all the other villages in the room. It was very intimidating for both squads. Shigeru glanced over to his teammates and they both nodded in return. They were going to remain quiet. That was their plan to make sure they had an advantage. As they sat down in the side of the room Minato's squad stayed close by. The silence only was disrupted when a a group of Konoha jonin poofed into the room. The one in the front glared out at the crowd. He was tall and had a burn mark covering the right side of his face. A Konoha hitai-ite was wrapped around his neck and he was dressed in the usual Konoha jonin outfit.

"Alright you squirts shut up and listen! My name is Wanito. That's all you need to know. First off, to our foreign guests, welcome to the chuunin exams. Second, Reminder you are our GUESTS so act like it! We can kick you out at anytime if you go against the rules of these exams!" He bellowed out. Kushina for once felt nervous under the jonins glare. Minato silently moved next to her and smirked a little as Wanito threatened the foreign shinobi.

"As for you from this village, you better not get cocky either! You're still representing us so act right or get out! This is your chance to show what your own villages are made of. As I said before, follow the rules, or be the start of diplomatic problems that could lead to war with other nations!" He yelled again. Minato stiffened and Kushina had her chance to smirk at the blond.

"This year, no matter what some of you have seen before, the chuunin exams are going to different. Congratulations on being test dummies for your villages. Now, let me explain the rules for this years chuunin exam..." he said. The atmosphere in the room changed from slight anxiety to confidence. Everyone was ready to show the world what they had to offer. This was it, the start of Kushina's full path to becoming the most powerful kunoichi was going to start right then. Nothing in the world was going to stop her.

"As we all struggle to get over the last great shinobi war, we have learned the importance of creating strong bonds with not only the shinobi in our villages, but we must learn to trust the ones in our allied villages. As such, your squads will all be paired with a group of genin from another village. Thats rule number one, you are to learn to work together for this. The challenges this time around will strongly resemble the ones that those of you have taken this before have done in the past. Except this time, you won't be able to pass to the next challenge unless your squad and the other all pass. No one goes solo here." The proctor Wanito said. He signaled for one of the jonin behind him to come stand next to him. The man was carrying at box with slips of paper in it.

"When you registered your squad all had a number on the sheet. All squads with odd numbers will come up and pick a number. Then they will find the squad with the even number that matches what they picked on their piece of paper. That will be the squad you work with. You may not trade. You stick with what you get!" Wanito yelled. Kushina remembered that they had the number 42 as their number. So she stayed back with her squad as other teams went forward. The other jonin that had come with Wanito had begun to pass out paper to the even numbered groups. The quickly wrote the number 42 on the sheet and held it up. They all watched as more and more squads met their new partners as they waited for their own. Finally Kushina felt someone tap her shoulder. She was curious about what kind of shinobi she would be working with. Sadly, all happiness of working with new people left her when her own green eyes met a pair of bright blue and a mess of blond hair to go with it.

"Hey, looks like we're together..." Minato said as his squad came up behind him holding a small piece of paper with the number 42 on it.

"N-No... Y-You're kidding me? Right?" She asked. Hoping this was some horrible dream. The blond just laughed and shook his head. Everyone had found their partners. Kushina glared at Minato. She only had a problem with him. She didn't care about the others on his team. She had no reason to be pissed at them. Just him. As she silently asked Kami-sama what she did wrong and why was she being punished like this. Wanito called everyone.

"Alright, first part is an oldie but a goodie. The newly formed teams of six will all come up here. You will each work in two's. One member from each original squad with their new team member. Together you will be given a number that assigns where you will sit. You have ten minutes to figure out who's with who in your new squad. Then you must come up here and get a new number!" Wanito yelled out. Kushina felt Minato tense up beside her but ignored it for now. She was busy watching everyone take their numbers and their seats. She was proud of the fact that back in the academy she held extremely high marks in academics. She just looked at it as another part of coming from the Uzumaki clan. Studying day and night, training to become stronger, all the shinobi in her family did that. She quickly turned back to her new team.

"Do we have a plan at all? I mean, for this test. We'll have to pass information to each other. You got any idea on that?" Akane asked. Kushina smiled and turned to look at Tetsuo.

"You guys know mores code right?" She asked and they all nodded.

"Tetsuo, do it." Shigeru instructed and Tetsuo nodded. He made a hand sign and closed his eyes. The three Konoha shinobi froze for a second before Minato spoke up.

"What was that?" He asked.

"My name is Hiraishin Tetsuo. Though it's not as big as Kushina's clan, my clan has a background of specializing in lightning based jutsu. This is just a little trick we have for sending messages. Combining my genjutsu with my lighting I can send messages to people that only they can see. It's called Senko no Jutsu. If I can get an answer then I can pass it to others as long as I know where they are.

"Perfect, because we have just the guy on our team to tell you where something or someone is." Minato said and pointed at Hiashi. Kushina then remembered how he had noticed her when they had first met. It was like he saw through her.

"Then you two should be together. Hiashi can find the answers and tell you where they are. And then you can send the message to us." Akane said.

"What if we need to get an answer to you though?" Shigeru asked.

"Then just write it on the corner of your paper, I'll see it and get Tetsuo to respond." Hiashi said.

"We shouldn't try and rely too much on this method. If we can figure this out on our own then we should. Let's agree that this is as a backup." Akane said. They all nodded.

"If after a half an hour you're really stuck, write a note on the side of the paper. Hiashi will check and then Tetsuo will respond."

"So what about us? Who's with who?" Kushina asked.

"Since Hiashi and Tetsuo obviously have to be with each other, the four of us should be the highest scores of academy grades in academics paired with the lowest." Akane said.

"Which one of you is the best at things like this? You know, studying and school problems. Who had the best academic grades in you group?" Shigeru asked the Konoha shinobi.

"That would be me." Akane said as she took a step forward. Kushina then was reminded that the girl also slightly annoyed her. Pink hair and kunoichi just didn't mix in her mind. And it was slowly getting annoying to think of this girl on an equal level to her.

"Alright, then I'll go with you. I was the lowest in our group." Shigeru said.

"You're kidding me? I'm stuck with him?" Kushina asked as she pointed at Minato. He glared back slightly but didn't say anything."

"Don't argue Kushina, this is for the group." Shigeru said and Kushina stuck her tongue out at him. They all walked over as a group and sat down in their pairs. Kushina sighed and put her arms behind her head ready to relax with this. She'd probably be able to answer the questions easily. She couldn't see the others but she figured Tetsuo would contact her soon. So she settled for looking over at Minato when it suddenly hit her, he was frozen and trembling. She was used to seeing him looking cocky that it startled her at first.

"H-Hey, you ok?" She asked. He looked sick. She had never been good at comforting others but she nervously touched his shoulder.

"W-Well, I know this is embarrassing, but I'm actually really nervous about this. I act brave but I'm kinda scared." He confessed and blushed a little. Kushina wasn't exactly sure how to respond. She always charged into things. Usually so fast that fear wouldn't have time to set it. But Minato was different, she was starting to see that. She smiled and laughed a little.

"So the great Konoha future Hokage is scared? Well, I guess everyone has the right to be sometimes. But with me by your side you have nothing to worry about! I'll pull us through this and before you know it we'll both be chuunin! So be happy! This is the moment for us to shine!" She said with a grin. It took a minute but Minato smiled back.

"Yeah, you're right, thanks, Kushina-san..." He said. His soft voice saying her name made her blush horribly. It was the first time he had said her name. She fidgeted for a minute until Wanito went back up to the front of the class.

"Alright listen up! This is how the test works. You each get a sheet and you all have to fill out the questions. Their are ten questions, each is worth ten points. Only nine are given at first. The tenth question will be given 15 minutes before the test ends. But for this time, the first ten minutes are the only minutes you are allowed to converse with your teammates. After than any communication will result in failing the test! You have exactly one hour to finish... Begin!"

* * *

**This was hard! But worth it! I know that their might be questions so ask if needed but you may not get an answer if not a very good one because I put some hidden things in here to help set things up in future chapters. But if you know things about the jutsus people use then it might slowly begin to make sense later. Anyway, glad people are reviewing and can't ask for much more... Except for more reviews! So please tell me if I'm doing a good job and I'll give you a virtual cookie! Thanks!**


End file.
